Next Chapter
January 4, 2023 – John Abrams
Four days ago, I stepped down as an owner and employee of South Mountain Company, the business I co-founded 50 years ago in my early twenties.
If we are lucky in life, work becomes an expression of who we are and one of our most important moorings. I was fortunate to discover this early and quite by accident. Without meaning to and without design, I entered the world of business and found that it satisfied my longings for joy, justice, and impact.
People invariably ask me what it feels like to leave this anchor of my identity.
Here's the best way I can explain it.
I used to think I had the best job in the world because I’ve always had the freedom to do the work I love in whatever way I wish. Not true – the freedom part. For many years my job has been to respond and react, to do what’s asked of me, and to carry great responsibility – essentially, it has been to satisfy the expectations of others. It has been as good as it gets – I’ve loved it every day – but I see it differently than I used to.
Now I have the freedom of a no-expectations work life. That’s the heart of the matter – the expectations are all my own. A fresh start. I crave this freedom in the same way the new South Mountain leadership craves theirs – they need to lead in their way as I have stepped out of the way. There’s no doubt that I will deeply miss the extraordinary people at SMCo as my involvement diminishes. But I will continue to watch, connect, and learn as new leadership takes the company to new places.
My current focus is to use this newfound freedom to try to chart a path as gratifying as the one I’m leaving behind.
Here’s some background.
The year I started college, 1967, was a time of turbulence, promise, and massive change. Amidst widespread social upheaval and the Vietnam War backdrop, the back-to-the-land movement was beginning to pick up steam as young people moved to rural America to attempt to learn the skills of self-sufficiency and invent a different future from the one that was expected of us. I never finished college because the back-to-the-land summons was too persuasive and drew me in – hook, line, and sinker.
This movement became the source of my higher education. Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog was my primary textbook. It led to much of my learning and skill-building and to other textbooks. In its pages, I found a clear path to a fulfilling career, although, at the time, I didn’t know it would lead me there.
My early career at South Mountain, the only real job I’ve ever had for more than six months, was multi-faceted. I planned properties and designed houses. I built them. I made furniture and cabinetry. I did bookkeeping and billing, hired and managed staff, conducted sales and guided clients, did rudimentary marketing, made estimates and contracts.
I learned to do these things entirely by the seat of my pants. Mostly I learned to do them in a half-baked way – just well enough to attract others who could do them better than I. Gradually, over time, I was able to delegate my responsibilities.
To get to that place, I studied – carpentry and woodworking, design, high-performance building, and renewable energy. I studied business, too – dove all the way in and read extensively about small business practice, mission-driven business, and the philosophy of a triple bottom line (in which people, planet, and profit are equally weighted in decision-making).
I learned from a broad network of peers. I applied my learning to work at South Mountain and shared it with other companies and communities. During two six-month sabbaticals, I wrote a book called The Company We Keep, and I took another two-month sabbatical to write a second edition titled Companies We Keep, which was published in 2008 and is still in print today.
I learned about affordable housing – how to fund it, how to make it, and how to make it better. I learned about community activism and how to facilitate meetings and processes to cultivate change. I learned that business and workplace democracy could change the world and promote social justice.
Modest successes in this work bred an unshakeable personal optimism.
That was my career, part one. Now comes career, part two, with three central activities:
South Mountain: I will remain on the Board of Directors with the title of “Founder and President Emeritus” (and work up to one day a week in an advisory capacity).
Writing: a new book, articles, and continuing this Company We Keep blog, which I have been publishing periodically since 2009.
Abrams + Angell: My life partner Kim and I will share our experience by consulting with mission-driven companies and organizations about worker-ownership transitions, financial literacy, business efficacy, leadership development, and community activism.
For 20 years, Kim and her partner Donna Cummens owned a business consulting and tax preparation company called Vineyard Tax Matters. Kim knows business, Kim knows taxes, Kim knows people. She has an infectious sense of humor and loves her family, her dog Finn, yoga, and me. Probably in that order.
She is fiercely dedicated to getting business right and helping people do that. Her psychology degree pairs well with her accounting training. There’s a very personal side to finance and business management; understanding that and working with clients in that way is her special passion.
For both of us, this is about bringing new approaches to work that we love.
My friend Ari Weinzweig quotes the writer, farmer, and philosopher Wendell Berry who says, in Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and Food, “We can say without exaggeration that the present national ambition of the United States is unemployment. People live for quitting time, for weekends, for vacations, and for retirement.”
Of course, that’s hardly true for everyone, and certainly not for us. We’re ready for the Next Chapter and excited about the possibilities. Let us know how we can help. Contact us at abramsangell.com.